Julian Green is back on the U.S. national team radar after making Bayern Munich's first team squad for the new Bundesliga season, but U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said that the 21-year-old needs playing time to earn a recall in October.
Green wasn't named to Klinsmann's squad for two upcoming World Cup qualifiers, Friday at St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago Sept. 6 in Jacksonville, Florida.
He made his U.S. debut in April 2014 and played in that summer's World Cup, scoring a memorable second-round goal off the bench against Belgium in his lone appearance.
But a lack of first-team minutes at Bayern and Hamburg, where Green spent the 2014-15 season on loan, has limited the German-American to just one appearance for the U.S. over the last two calendar years.
His most recent cap came in a friendly against Puerto Rico in May.
But Green started five games for Carlo Ancelotti's team during the preseason, scoring a hat trick against Inter Milan last month in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has earned a place in the squad for this season.
"He had a great preseason," Klinsmann said on Monday during a live Facebook Q&A.
"What we want to see from Julian is obviously that he get more minutes on the field."
Green dressed but didn't play in last week's season-opening 6-0 rout of Werder Bremen. He was also an unused substitute in the Aug. 14 Super Cup win against Borussia Dortmund, but did see 24 minutes off the bench in a German Cup victory against fourth-tier FC Carl Zeiss Jena the following week.
With the club scheduled to begin its Champions League campaign in mid-September, it's possible that squad rotation could lead to more opportunities for Green.
He could be back in red, white and blue before the Oct. 7 friendly in Cuba and another four days later against New Zealand in Washington, D.C. should it work out that way.
"Once he gets more minutes on the field," Klinsmann said, "we'll see if we can bring him in in the next couple of games."